Pairs Skater Erupts

Sand Punches Wall After Blown Landing

EDMONTON — Unless pals of Tonya Harding are involved, there rarely are attacks in figure skating.

That U.S. pairs skater Todd Sand took part in an assault Tuesday night was even more surprising, because he long has been thought of as a Sand who rhymes with bland on the ice.

The object of his disaffection was himself, but he took out his anger by punching a hole in a wall on the ground floor of the Edmonton Coliseum after he and his wife and partner, Jenni Meno, finished a disappointing fifth in the short program of the pairs competition at the World Championships.

"He hit a wall very hard with his fist. I'm just happy it wasn't the coach he hit," said the coach, John A.W. Nicks.

Thirty seconds into the 2-minute 45-second program, Sand botched his landing of the double Axel the two were doing as the required side-by-side jumps. From that point on, the U.S. champions and 1995 world bronze medalists went through the motions without emotions.

"We probably didn't have the spark we would have had if that mistake had not happened so early in the program," Meno said.

They wound up with scores as low as 5.1 for the required elements and finished behind leaders Mandy Woetzel-Ingo Steuer of Germany and three Russian pairs: Marina Eltsova-Andrei Bushkov, Evgenia Shishkova-Vadim Naumov and Oksana Kazakova-Artur Dmitriev.

"I'm very disappointed in myself," Sand said.

The scores for Meno and Sand also reflected the judges' belief that they should be doing more than double Axels as the side-by-side jumps. All the other leading couples did triples of some variety, and Kazakova's fall on her triple toe loop clearly hurt their pair less than Sand's two-footed landing.

"I think they would have been second, third or fourth if they skated cleanly," Nicks said. "The double Axel usually is a very safe move. We were playing the percentages, and some of them turned out."

Coincidentally, Meno and Sand also were fifth after the short program a year ago but advanced to the awards podium when teams ahead of them made mistakes. Nicks is counting on the same thing happening again Wednesday.

"With mistakes, the final placements can go anywhere," Nicks said.

Kyoka Ina and Jason Dungjen of the U.S. were eighth, while World Championship debutants Shelby Lyons and Brian Wells were 11th.

Dance highlights: U.S. champions Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow were a surprising seventh after the compulsory phase of the dance competitions. Their highest overall finish in two previous world meets was 11th.

"We are thrilled with this position," Swallow said.

The other U.S. dancers, 1993-95 national champions Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur, were a disappointing 14th in a competition that continues with the original dance Wednesday and ends with the free dance Friday.

Overwhelming favorites Oksana Gritschuk and Evgeny Platov, the 1994 Olympic champions and 1994-95 world champions, led as expected after the compulsories.

Browning snubbed: Four-time world champion Kurt Browning of nearby Caroline, who turned pro after the 1994 Olympics, was stopped from skating in Tuesday's opening ceremonies because of International Skating Union pettiness. The ISU did not want pros to intrude on their party.